FEATURED POST OF THE WEEK

Our long-form article of the week. You can always view the current and past featured posts on Empower’s blog.

Step into 2025 confidently

It’s December? Are you feeling the new year jitters yet?

If you are, that’s normal. The final weeks of the year can be stressful for many reasons. You’re trying to hit your current-year goals. You want to make sure you have a plan for the coming year. You want to show your team appreciation for all their hard work. You’re attempting to make space to slow down and spend time with friends and family. The list goes on…

While I can’t take all those things off your plate, I can help you feel more confident going into 2025. Some of you may already have well-established plans — great work! Others of you may have just started or are thinking: “2025? I can barely think past tomorrow.”

Today, I'm meeting you where you are, with no judgments or preconceived notions. My only objective is to provide practical suggestions that will 🌟EMPOWER🌟 you to start the new year strong.

What should I be thinking about?

If you feel overwhelmed by annual planning advice, I hope this simplifies things and puts your mind at ease.

Step 1 - Reflect on the past year

Take time to think about this year before diving into the next one. Open a notebook, document or your favorite digital place to plan.

Write down your answers to these questions:

• Did you have focused objectives this year?

• If you had clear goals, how did you perform against them?

• If you didn’t have clear goals, what stood in your way?

• What are you proud of?

• What could’ve gone better?

• Are there any major gaps you need to address next year?

• What’s happened in the broader market and how does that impact your positioning?

• What progress did you make toward achieving your vision?

Writing these answers down will help you gain clarity and surface opportunities.

Step 2 - Identify 2025 priorities

Now that you’ve reflected on 2024, it’s time to think critically about where you want the business to be at the end of 2025. Identify a focused set of goals that will enable you to get there. This isn’t about a laundry list of to-dos and action items. Instead, narrow down three top priorities. Make your goals SMART so you can seamlessly measure progress.

Step 3 - Develop a plan

With your top-level goals in hand, work backward to map out how you’ll achieve them. The thought exercise and visuals will help you see the path to success.

• Break down annual goals: Establish quarterly targets and deadlines to make your goals more manageable.

• Allocate resources: Outline the time, people, and budget required to execute your priorities. This gives you a clear picture of tradeoffs needed to hit your goals.

• Establish key metrics: Set clear, measurable indicators for performance.

• Plan for different scenarios: Conduct basic scenario planning (best, most likely and worst case) so you can adapt proactively.

• Use tools to help you manage and centralize the plan: Whether it’s something like Quickbooks or Google Sheets for budgeting, or a project management tool like Asana or Notion for goal-setting, establish your toolbox as part of the plan.

Don’t forget to bring key stakeholders into the conversation. Gather input and ensure alignment by scheduling collaborative sessions or inviting people to comment on the documentation you’ve pulled together.

Step 4 - Set a rhythm

Establish a structure to take pulse checks throughout the year—what I like to call your “operating rhythm.”

Consider:

• Meeting cadence: How frequently do you want to meet with your leadership, team, etc. to analyze performance?

• Communication: When and how will you share updates?

• Tools: What will you use to centralize information, enable communication and track performance?

• Employee engagement: How often will you survey or conduct 1:1s with your team?

• Customer satisfaction: How often will you take a pulse check of your customers?

Here’s one example of what this could look like in practice:

Applying this to Empower

In Empower’s first year, I found setting aside intentional time for reflection and planning invaluable. I instituted “quarterly reset days,” where I focus on:

• Reflection

• Assessing progress against goals.

• Resetting priorities for the coming quarter.

• Identifying opportunities for improvement.

Essentially, this practice provides prioritized time for working on the business. 

During my reset day in October, I jumpstarted Empower's 2025 planning cycle:

• Reflection on 2024 goals: I set ambitious goals. I’m pleased with where we are in certain areas, and less enthused in others. All of that is great learning as I enter a second year of business and solidify 2025 objectives.

• Assessed vision, mission and values: These core foundations are aspirational and not meant to be achieved immediately. However, it’s good hygiene to periodically evaluate whether actions have helped drive those three things forward.

• Drafted 2025 goals: I brainstormed initial thoughts on next year's objectives. Using the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework (you should use the goal-setting method that works best for you), we've established four focused objectives:

  • Hit our 2025 financial plan (with key metrics around revenue expansion and margin targets).

  • Diversify revenue offerings to best match demand.

  • Demonstrable proof of Empower’s brand expansion.

  • Engage in professional development to better serve our partners and deliver value.

• A financial performance review, including outlining 2025 projections: I began sketching out Empower’s 2025 financial projections, aiming to align the financial plan with our strategic objectives.

• Allocated time to quarterly resets and content days for all 2025: Yup, they’re in the calendar. I already blocked the time required next year to think strategically about the business and batch content.

Since October, I’ve refined priorities, aligned the financial plan and set milestones to unlock opportunities in 2025.

Step confidently into 2025

Planning can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to be. If you give yourself grace and a bit of time and space to focus on the four things mentioned above — reflection, identifying priorities, developing a plan and setting a rhythm — you’ll go into the next year with more confidence, clarity and focus.

WEEKLY DOSE OF EMPOWERMENT

The weekly dose of Empowerment is meant to provide one weekly tip that’s both practical and approachable, to help drive incremental improvement to your day-to-day. We’re always open to your contributions as well. If you would like to submit a tip to be shared with the Empower community in a future newsletter, please reach out at [email protected] with the subject line “Weekly Dose of Empowerment Submission.”

Choose your words wisely

The words you use matter. I often reflect on this topic, recently so with Wes Kao’s newsletter. She wrote about this topic in September, and her advice resonated with me. I also thought it would be valuable to business owners frequently confronted with situations where effective communication is key.

I’ve included key highlights below, but I encourage you to read the full piece for more details.

Quick takes:

• Language should reflect intent, meaning, severity, level of certainty, stakes and power dynamics.

• Don’t be overly confident, but also don’t overly caveat. There’s a delicate balance on this spectrum.

• Be accurate with your communication so your audience can trust what you say. This includes being open and transparent about your stage of thinking.

• Your words will impact how willing your team is to engage you in divergent discussions.

• Consider the cost of being wrong for different scenarios.

• When you don’t have the complete picture, incorporate words that express humility and self-awareness.

Wes also provides a list of helpful words and phrases that can set you on the path of using more effective language. It’s well worth exploring!

JESSICA’S READ, OR LISTEN, PICK OF THE WEEK

A little something that got my gears turning this week and might pique your interest as well!

From Forbes: Managing Risk Without Bogging Down Your Business

TL;DR

I was immediately drawn to this article because of its title. When it comes to topics of operations, risk management or compliance, many people want to crawl under the covers and hide. This article, however, presents a case for how you can effectively manage business risk (which, hint hint, impacts your operations) without the overbearing weight. The author also makes it clear who owns risk (the CEO or owner) and the factors that can shape a business’s risk profile.

If you don’t end up reading the full article, take this message away:

JUST FOR FUN

Really, this section is just for fun. Who knows what will be in store each week?

My favorite Black Friday / Cyber Week purchase this year — stocking up on clean beauty essentials for 25% off. I felt good supporting this brand and pretty sure I won’t need another refill until this time next year.

What’s been your favorite holiday purchase so far?

LOOKING FOR MORE EMPOWERMENT?

You’ve worked hard to build your business. Let’s work together to make it last. We want to be your partner in the journey to develop the business that lives into your vision.

There are four primary ways Empower can partner with you to support getting your business to the next level. Click the image below to learn more about our core offerings.

If you’re ready to take the step, reach out to discuss how we can support your goals. 

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